After speaking with several racers this past weekend, I found out that there are a few misconceptions about the GATORZ races. All of this information can be found at www.gatorzkarting.com, but I suppose it can always be spelled out more clearly.

1. Licenses: In order to race more than one GATORZ race, you do need to have an RMax license. I give you a bye on the first one, but after that, you need to purchase the license. You do not have to declare GATORZ as your home series, you simply need to have the document. If you want to chase points at GATORZ, you do need to have the license and declare GATORZ as your home series. This is our only membership, there is no GATORZ Karting Cup membership per se. Just like LAKC , where you must be a member to collect year end awards, you must be a GATORZ RMax member to collect year end awards with us.

2. Tires: You do not have to purchase new tires from the series for both days of the GATORZ Challenge of the Americas races this winter, nor do you have to purchase new tires for every GATORZ Karting Cup event. For the Challenge of the Americas weekends, you only have to purchase one set of tires for the weekend. These are the only legal tires you can run, however. For all other GATORZ Karting Cup races, you must run tires that originate from the series, but you do not have to purchase new tires for each race . Many guys purchase tires every other race, or buy one set a month and run them at LAKC later in the month.

3. Favoritism: I have heard the statements that FTK guys get preferential treatment at GATORZ races, or it is only FTK guys that race GATORZ. That is simply not true . I have no official duties on race days, so that claim cannot be made. All you have to do is race at an event and see it for yourself. We have racers from FTK, DPK, SSC, TNR, Pitts, Reaction Karting, TonyKart West, Overdrive/PCR, M-squared, Miller Motorsports Park, 2 Wild Karting, and many others. I go to great expense to fly in Don Moormeister, the National Rotax Tech Director, to do Tech at every event. Our Race Director for the Challenge of the Americas races owns his own track in the Portland area, and has been the Race Director or Asst. Race Director at the SKUSA ProMoto Tour, the SuperNationals, TaGUSA World Finals, IKF, PKC and many others. His assistant and Grid Steward is LAKC's own Guy Keesee. Guy is my Race Director for the regular GATORZ Karting Cup races as well.

4. Expensive: Karting is not a cheap hobby, but GATORZ is no more expensive than any other series if you approach it the same way. Our 3 day event entry fee is $250. That is Friday practice, Saturday racing and Sunday racing. There are no pit spot fees. If you only race one day and don't practice, its $125. LAKC's member entry fee is $80. GATORZ costs more, but on a per lap basis, its actually about the same. A typical LAKC day offers 10 laps of practice, 5 laps of qualifying and 24 laps of racing. That is about 40 laps per day, $2 per lap. A typical GATORZ day is 10 laps of practice, 12-15 laps of qualifying and 40 laps of racing. That is about 65 laps per day, again about $2 per lap.

I'm not trying to take business away from LAKC, nor do I want to pit GATORZ vs. LAKC. I am just trying to address the comments that I have heard over the past couple of LAKC races. I think that there is room in the SoCal Rotax scene for both LAKC and GATORZ. I have supported and sponsored a class at LAKC since the day I went into business for myself out of my garage in late 2002. Blair Lechtenberg and I went to the LAKC board in 2002 and asked them to add Rotax as a class and I have promoted it ever since.

Remember, if you want to try GATORZ, we are racing at CalSpeed on Feb. 27-March 1. You can drive all three days, or enter for one day only. The pre-entry deadline is midnight this Wednesday, Feb. 18th. It is early due to the ordering requirements for fuel and tires for the racers. We start billing Credit Cards on Friday. Pre-entering saves you $75.

HOWEVER, if you are watching the weather and are unsure if you are racing because you don't know what it is going to do, I will make a special offer to LAKC members. I will waive the late entry fee for all LAKC members if you decide to race and register at the track.

andy, thanks for making some of these concerns, clear. like you said, you support LAKC and arent trying to take anyone away from LAKC, but LAKC being a local series has been an issue with the two organizations. as you know i (former director), on behalf of LAKC have from the begining made it a point not to rival gatorz, but support it, and i think it has worked. with out your help, support, knowledge and advice we wouldn't be as strong as we've become. the only thing i've never liked about the program is the home club claim, i still don't fully understand its purpose, and feel it misleads people in thinking that they have to race with gatorz or LAKC (or whatever club) only.
help me with that.
again thanks for your support and your post makes me want to once again attend a gatorz race, i better practice first!
peace

9

Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:00 pm

chris latorre

Moderator

Joined: Sun May 23, 2004 4:08 pmPosts: 805Location: newhall, CA

Andy, Thanks for that. I was under some micconceptions as well and you did clear them up for me I will pass it on.

The only thing that LAKC felt does not seem fair is to sort of force some of the membership to call Gatorz as home or they are not allowed to be a part of the year end rewards. LAKC will allow it's membership to call Gatorz home and still get all the same rewards as all other members do.

Anyway we all know that the program is great and I hope to see lots of the LAKC members take advantage of this great offer. Save the $75.00 and show them what you got.

Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:13 pm

chris latorre

Moderator

Joined: Sun May 23, 2004 4:08 pmPosts: 805Location: newhall, CA

wow david I'm typing then I see you beat me to it.

Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:17 pm

Andy Seesemann

Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2002 12:14 amPosts: 125Location: Fullerton, CA.

Chris,

Can a racer get points at LAKC and get year end awards without being a member of LAKC, Rotax or otherwise?

A

Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:26 pm

Joe Stalker

Moderator

Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:38 pmPosts: 163Location: Lakewood,Ca

Andy, I believe and know your support to LAKC is very valuable. I know you have helped Dylan & I get to where we are today. As far as the cost of Gatorz being more expensive to run, I have listed some prices to run an IKF event, which not many seem to blink at the cost.
So here are some numbers for comparison.
IKF:
Pre-Entry: $89.00 (first class) /$84.00 (2nd Class)
On site entry: $120 /$110
Pit spot: 50 EACH !
Practice: $45.00
This puts it at $268.00 for practice + 2 days of racing.
Same items, Gatorz = $250

Now Ad Camping at $100
Tag Licence: $40 (?) year
IKF Membership: $60 year (R-Max membership $75.00/year)
Still gonna need tires Fuel & Oil. $75 -$80 About the same cost anywhere you go.
So yeah, Gatorz may be a $800 - $900 for a 3 day event, but it's no different than a 3 day IKF event.

Dave, in response to your question about the "Home Series" call. I don't believe it's any different than LAKC,TRI-C, IKF,or Pro-Kart requiring a membership to run their events... FOR POINTS. If one wants to run for Championship points, THEN they must list Gatorz as thier home series.

Sorry to go off on a slight tangent, but with regards to laps per day, will LAKC be adding laps to the races when summer comes around?

Also, I would love to run some Gatorz stuff, especially when there are so many laps and competitors, but being a college student, one can understand I have a budget issue. I want to try different tracks with gatorz, but that requires more money for testing. Therefore running at LAKC is the most feasable choice for someone like me who wants to become competitive.

Wed Feb 18, 2009 1:37 pm

Joe Stalker

Moderator

Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:38 pmPosts: 163Location: Lakewood,Ca

Chris Cullen wrote:

(Sorry to go off on a slight tangent, but with regards to laps per day, will LAKC be adding laps to the races when summer comes around ?)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Most likely - No Chris. We have quite a few classes now and to ad 3-4 laps to each heat & main would put us way into the later part of the day. Daylight or no daylight.Gatorz can run the additional laps due to being a Rotax series and threfore has only the 5 classes.

Also, I would love to run some Gatorz stuff, especially when there are so many laps and competitors, but being a college student, one can understand I have a budget issue. I want to try different tracks with gatorz, but that requires more money for testing. Therefore running at LAKC is the most feasable choice for someone like me who wants to become competitive.

Gatorz will be running two of their dates at the Cal-Speed venue. Feb 27- March 1
and on June 26-27. There are many Rotaxians who run both LAKC & Gatorz series.
Racing at both series is very competitive. You ran pretty well this past Sunday and with more seat & track time you have the potential to be running towards the front. (Behind Dylan of course) I believe we are very fortunate to have the top two Rotax series right here in So.Cal. This is our 3rd season running full time in both both LAKC & Gatorz. The experience we have gained by running both is shown in D's race results. Feel free to come by anytime on race weekend and pick our brains. We'll gladly help you out, untill you start beating us . . .
Then you're on your own.

Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:47 pm

Andy Seesemann

Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2002 12:14 amPosts: 125Location: Fullerton, CA.

It looks like the weather is going to really cooperate this weekend. Partly sunny and the low 70s for the next 4 days.

Remember, we are waving the late fee for any LAKC members that show up and register at the track.

Ron Rossetti, Jared Bradley and David Busby are racing, along with most of those that race with GATORZ and LAKC all year long. Come on out and join the fun!

We are also having a special Thursday afternoon practice tomorrow from 1p to 5p as well.

less practice means more racing which is really what we are there to do, RACE. raceday practice should just be for the racers to warm up and make sure they tightened the wheels. PRACTICE is really done on off weekends or during the week when you can really practice, and we all know i need alot of it.peace

Thats apx 9 hours of run time not counting time between races any red flags etc etc.
That would be cutting it very close daylight wise.

Sat Feb 28, 2009 10:32 am

Terry Ballard

Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:55 pmPosts: 31

laps

I for one would love the Gatorz schedule. I am also in the boat of it being tough to handle but only for the first race. We could get adjusted to it.

Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:16 pm

Efrain Olivares

Joined: Fri Nov 03, 2006 3:11 pmPosts: 5

If you all want more track time, why didn't you just compete at the Gatorz race this weekend? There were a few LAKC guys that did the Challenge of the Americas race at Calspeed - Jarrod Bradley, Ron Rossetti, Jay Zamora, and a few more whose names escape me at the moment. Hell, Jarrod raced up to seventh in the Rotax Masters main ahead of a lot of really fast guys before he threw a chain - after only showing up on Sunday. Pretty impressive.

LAKC has proven time and time again that it cannot consistently run their current format on time. I've lost count of the number of times that my Rotax International main has been shortened from 16 to 10 or 8 laps. 8 laps was interesting, since it was only two laps longer than my pre-main. $105 for 14 laps of racing.

It's not magic, its accounting. 10 classes means short run sessions. Add red flags, IKF Region 7 presidents talking about IKF Region 7 rules (i.e. a 40 minute drivers meeting), and unbelievably long registration lines to the mix and long sessions is simply wishful thinking. In fact, getting our full allotment of laps is often wishful thinking as well.

Gatorz races again at Calspeed on June 27. Hopefully we'll see some of you there - with your karts.

Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:16 pm

Andy Seesemann

Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2002 12:14 amPosts: 125Location: Fullerton, CA.

Oh boy.

Efrain is representing Efrain right now, not me or the GATORZ series.

One thing he said is correct. The reason that GATORZ can run the schedule we do, is due to the fact that we only run 5 classes. Doubling that number and expecting the same schedule is not realistic.

8 hours is 8 hours. Without a time machine, its just not possible.

Good to see some of you out there this weekend. Great job Jarrod as well.

Hope to see you at our GATORZ race at CalSpeed in June with helmets on instead of baseball caps.

A

Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:30 pm

chris latorre

Moderator

Joined: Sun May 23, 2004 4:08 pmPosts: 805Location: newhall, CA

Nice Efrain Thanks for that double slap. You are wrong about main laps being cut time and time again. It happens at the first or second race of every season because we had 180 races NOT 30 or 40. That is also why the registration line was long. One more thing Gatorz uses NKA insurance and the paper work is half of what we need to do. I want to see the lines when Gatorzs has 180 racers and over 400 spectators. There is NO WAY Sara and Shelby would even come close to getting that many people through the gate. Thanks for the slap we will remember that one.
Andy you are at every race tell me what we did wrong. Offer to many classes? Let the new IKF regional cordinator speak for 5 min.? Tell the racers once we hit 100 the rest go home so we can get in all the laps. I think you understand the program and it is clear that Efrain does not.